Public Work Session

The December 16, 2003 meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission began at 7:00 p.m. with the approval of the agenda. The Chair asked David Neumann to take minutes.

Public Review Session

David and Brenda Gumula presented their concept and initial plans for the construction of a post and beam house at 207 Maple Ave. They have subdivided the lot where their present house at 205 Maple is located. They plan to build on the neighboring lot just south of the house at 209 Maple. We discussed compatibility with the historic aspects and styles of the homes in the vicinity and with the historic aspects of the Town in general. Their plans were not yet ready for review and we discussed what we would need to perform a preliminary review, such as elevations, floor plans, description of the exterior materials, and if possible photos, etc. We explained that we would be glad to review the plans prior to their application for a building permit to expedite the process.
Plans for a major remodeling of a home at 346 Ridge Road were discussed. Neither the owners nor their representatives were present. The plans were submitted by Alex Tobing for Hilda Sayan. We discussed the constructions plans. The result of our discussion will be a review written by Ed Mroczka.

HPC Work Session (continued)

The minutes of the meeting of Nov. 18, 2003 were read and approved.

The Rules of Procedure for the HPC were discussed and sections 3 and 4 were adopted.

David Neumann reported on his conversation and correspondence with Mr. Scott Whipple at the Maryland Historical Trust. He had discussed with Mr. Whipple the possible resubmittal or amendment of the 1979 Application for TWG Historic District to change the boundaries of the HD to include the field. This discussion is summarized in Neumann’s report submitted to the HPC. Mr. Whipple subsequently sent a letter to Neumann saying that he had studied the TWG HP Ordinance and that he believed it was not in compliance with the State’s Article 66B. Mr. Whipple’s letter was forwarded to the Mayor and the Chair of the HPC.

A draft resolution of the Town Council &quot;Re: Appointed Boards, Commissions & Committees was discussed&quot;. We compared the Council proposal to the By-Laws adopted by the HPC. A letter to the Town Council drafted by Neumann was read. It was decided by a unanimous vote to send the letter to the Council.

We attempted to discuss – from an historic preservation point-of-view – the letter from the Town attorney to Darrell Anderson dated 10/22/03 on the proposed changes to the Ordinances. Unfortunately, we did not have a copy of the draft ordinance changes and therefore the comments of the attorney were not easily understandable.

In one comment by the attorney on page two of his letter he states &quot;It is my understanding that not the entirety of the Town of Washington Grove is included within the historic district&quot;. We discussed this statement and the question arose as to what the actual boundaries of the historic district were. We decided to investigate this to determine (1) why or whether it is important that the Town boundaries and the boundaries of the historic district be different and (2) what the current boundaries of the historic district are. We decided that it would be helpful if the Chair asked the mayor if we might have a discussion with the Town Attorney.

It was decided to examine the ordinance changes at our next meeting after a copy of the proposed changes became available. The changes are relevant to the HPC because it is precisely the greater relative height and volume of new construction to old construction that tends to obliterate the smaller historic structures. Other issues that we discussed were the need to define more precisely to applicants what they need to provide with their building permit application. At present under the Town zoning ordinances, construction plans are not required to be provided, therefore the HPC has a limited ability to ask the applicants to specify the exterior materials, windows, etc. We also have a problem with the applicant changing the style, materials, etc. after the permit is granted by the Town and/or the County.